nine (1/1)

On Minho’s walk home that even Taemin had left him at the edge of the meadow.  The elf had seemed distracted. He kept looking around the meadow every so often as if he expected something to be out there. It was creepy at first but then it got annoying.  Minho felt selfish for wanting Taemin’s attention, but he couldn’t help it.  When he asked Taemin what was wrong the little elf hesitated to answer, but denied it and said nothing more.  Minho figured he was nervous about his sister finding out that he was secretly seeing a human.  He might have to get used to Taemin feeling uneasy when they were together for long periods of time.  It made Minho wonder if he should be scared of this mysterious sister too.  The walk out of the forest seemed longer than usual and it gave Minho too much time to dwell on his unsettling thoughts.               Work came in more and more everyday and Minho left everyday feeling exhausted.  Jigoon would keep him late and tell him to come in early and despite the effort he put it in the load never seemed to lighten.  One day, a farmer from the far side of the village came to them wanting a new saddle.  This meant Minho would be taking the measurements while the Jigoon and the other geezer chatted in the front area of the shop.  While Minho worked he half heartily listened to their conversation. “I don’t know what it is but the crop came early this year.” The farmer said.  Jigoon poured them a beverage and added ice from the chest he kept in the back. “Well, is it healthy?” he asked as he offered the icy drink to the old man, and neglected to offer Minho anything. “Oh, yes. Even though it’s been a pretty dry season so far, the leaves and thick and healthy.  I think the corn will actually be ready to harvest by the end of the month.”  Minho didn’t know much about farming but he knew that corn wasn’t due for at least two more months, so it was really early.  “That’s odd, I have another farmer who came in last week to have a pair of boots fixed and he had just started to harvest his beans.  The whole field was healthy and early too.” “I’ve never seen anything like this, but I’m not complaining. I mean, we can all use some luck, after everything suddenly died a few years ago this year maybe we will finally be able to catch up what we lost then.”  Both men continued to talk about the hardships of their lives, and Minho continued to work trying to ignore them.  He had noticed everything around town had looked very lively and vegetables in the market seemed to be abundant.  More food meant lower prices, but early crop meant low rations for the colder months.  Minho made a mental note to stock up on potatoes when their season came around.  He would have to make sweet potato pie for Taemin, since it was Minho’s favorite.  Minho went to bed early that night.  He had spent the rest of the day cutting leather and working it stiff for certain parts of the saddle with very little help from Jigoon.  He had cleaned up and flung himself in to bed and fell into a fitful sleep almost instantly.  He stood at the familiar bank. It was the bank that Taemin had told him to stay away from.  Minho turned to leave he knew he wasn’t supposed be here and he wanted to leave. He started to walk up the bank towards the path, but his feet seemed to sink in to the dirt the farther he walked, he was forced to go backwards.  The trees started to grow and lean towards him funneling him back to the bank, right to the water’s edge.  He stepped on to the invisible path of the water, running from the mud and splintering wood of the trees.  He walked a few steps backwards still looking at the horrific sight on the bank. The trees had grown into a jagged wall, blocking his path back to land.  All he could do was head towards the opposite bank.  He looked across the vast river, it seemed impossibly wide, he couldn’t even see the other side.  It didn’t take long before Minho was near the spot where he thought the figure from last time should have been. But there was nothing. He could almost see the bank.  He was close enough to see individual trees and even some of the flowers growing on the ground.  Before he could get much closer he heard rustling.   A little girl dressed in a small white dress came running out of the trees.  She wore a wooden mask similar to the one the other figure had worn before.  She was looking behind her as she ran, straight on to the water’s surface.  Minho stopped, watching her come towards him.  When she spotted him she outstretched one of her small arms, “help me,” it was a whisper in Minho’s ear and before he could fully process what was happening the girl was slipping below the surface of the water.  Minho ran towards where she fell below.  He dropped to his hands and knees expecting to fall below too, but he couldn’t break through, he helplessly watched the little girl get pulled further down.  Her white hair drifted all around her in the current, and her mask came off and floated away.  It revealed black eyes and beautiful face, just like Taemin’s.  Her eyes were squinted in anguish and fear, and her hand was still out stretched towards Minho.  He began to hit the surface with his first trying to break through to saver her.  “Minho!” He snapped his head up.  Taemin stood on the other side of the bank looking horrified.  Before he could speak Minho felt the invisible force holding him above the water give way, and he fell in to the dark depths.   He awoke with both arms outstretched towards his dark ceiling.  He was drenched, his hair clung to his face and his neck, his arms dripped and his shirt was plastered to his body, like he had just waded through the river itself.  He sat up and looked at his hands.  They were shaking and he was out of breath.  The dreamed had frightened him very bad. All he knew for sure is that he would never go back to the spot on the river bank.    ~*~*~  As the days passed Taemin became more and more paranoid that he was being followed.  He swore he could see things darting into the shadows all over the palace and it was driving him crazy.  He had examined the mask that night when he had left Minho.  It looked exactly like the ones he and Hyora wore when they were younger. Their mother always made them wear these masks when they went out.  She knew she couldn’t do anything to keep them on their side of the river so she made them the masks for protection.  Taemin had kept his and it was put in a drawer somewhere with his old toys and other trinkets left by his mother.  So this had to be taken from Hyora.  He wanted to ask her about it but she seemed to be missing again and he didn’t particularly want to engage with her if he could avoid it.  He was up late one night working on a folded paper box to give Minho tomorrow when he heard a noise out in the hall.  It was late so it was strange anyone would be around, especially in his wing.  He got up out of bed and opened the door to the hall.  There were no candles or fairy light so it was very dark.  If someone where there he figured they would have had a light, but it was quiet and still.  He was about to close the door when he heard quick footsteps at the end of the hall, as if running down the bend in the hall. “Who’s there?” he called, he started to walk down the corridor. When no one responded he felt pin pricks of fear tingle in his stomach. “This isn’t funny, show yourself.” He turned the corner and expected to see someone but only caught the tail end of a light garment as it turned the corner farther down that hall.  He broke in to a run to try and catch up to whom ever was ahead of him.  He heard the footsteps run down the stairs leading to the main hall. “Stop running and come here,” he yelled.  All he heard in response was a high pitched giggle, like that of a child.  He ran faster, and wondered if it was one of the servant’s children who snuck out of bed.  Once he reached the main hall he could see a small figure running full speed down the hall towards the main stair case. It was headed towards the front doors.  Taemin sprinted down the hall and flew down the stairs, but not quick enough, before the little figure made it out the front doors.  He saw it was definitely a little girl dressed in a white sleeping gown.  “Get over here, you should be in bed.” He was answered with more laughter.  The little girl ran towards the forest and bounced off near by tree roots.  She was amazingly fast for someone so young, and knew her path through the forest.  Taemin knew this path too; they were running towards the water bridge. “You really need to stop, we need to go back.” The child made no effort to slow down, if anything she sped up. Taemin even lost sight of her a right before they reached the bank.  He skid to a dead stop before he reached the water.  There was another dark figure standing in the middle of the bridge, and the little girl was running straight for it. She out stretched her hand towards the dark figure and then fell through the surface.  Taemin gasped and ran to the water’s edge, he had never seen some one fall through before.  The dark figure seemed equally surprised and ran to where the girl had fallen. He dropped to his knees and began hitting the surface.  That was when Taemin clearly saw the dark figure was Minho. How was he here with out Taemin knowing and how was he on the bridge? Taemin called to him, afraid to step on to the surface, “Minho?” When the man looked up, when their eyes met Minho fell, just as the girl had. Taemin screamed and tentatively stepped on to the bridge.  His weight held and he ran to where they both had disappeared.  He looked beneath the surface, but there was nothing, no girl, no Minho, just dark water.   He stood staring in to the abyss before he heard others on the bank.  “Prince Taemin, are you alright?” There were several guards standing on the bank. Taemin recognized them as night watch. “Um, yes, I just, thought I saw something.” He walked back to the bank, “Did you see a girl, or a man out of the bridge?” The guards looked among themselves all shaking their heads, “No your highness, we heard some one running and we heard you yell, but we didn’t see any one else. Are you okay?” Taemin looked at the ground, he felt so foolish, “Um yes, I think I just spooked myself,” he said sheepishly. He had no idea what he saw.  There was no way someone would fall through the bridge, and there was no way Minho could make it this far with out him knowing.  He made his way back to the castle and back in to his room.  He was being ridiculous and needed to relax, if not he was going to make himself crazy.  Back in the castle, he rolled up in to his covers and wrapped his arms around his shoulders; he wanted to be with Minho very bad at that moment.      (A/N; Hello friends! Updating a little early because I got roped in to a shift tomorrow night.  I started another story called Rotten that I will update soon.  Have a good week guys! And as always please leave a comment to let me know what you think!) Tumblr